After this Hurricane, we have the mosquitoes from hell. I have lived in Florida more than I have lived outside of Florida and I have not seen the mosquitoes this bad before. Even with bug spray containing DEET they are attacking. By the SWARMS. We can’t walk our dog and kids more than a block and we are running back home.
Side note: Dad and #1 Son usually win the race home… I have the stroller with #2 Son and #1 DogSon to bring back with me. #1 DogSon is NOT into running.
I decided to do some research on these pesky beasts and found this web site:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/mosquito1.htm
My interpretation of what the web site says on these monsters finding us…
1. Chemical sensors: They can smell us 100 feet away. ATTACK!
2. Visual sensors: They can see you moving, particularly if you are wearing clothing that contrasts with the background. ATTACK!
3. Heat sensors: They can detect heat. Body heat. ATTACK!
From the article: “Something with this many sensors sounds more like a military aircraft than an insect. That's why mosquitoes are so good at finding and biting you!”
And the ones around here SOUND like military aircraft buzzing you. So if I want to make sure they aren’t going to bite my family I will need to do the following:
1. Put on something they don’t like the smell of on our bodies
2. Wear camouflage clothing for our area (a combination of dirt road / cut up trees)
3. Make sure we don’t produce any body heat while walking in the 100 degrees F heat index we are having outside.
Ok, so there is no way I can do any of the above…. Well maybe the smelling like something they don’t think is food… but then I don’t think I’ll be able to handle the smell, so there is no way I can do any of the above.
ARGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH…. Just make them go away!
5 comments:
They are bad bad bad since Frances. They are so bad that even the guy we had push up our trees today said something. He's a landscaper and he was carrying on about how bad they are. I thought it was just me. I'm completely chewed up from the yardwork. I'm afraid West Nile Virus is going to be bad.
BTW, there's another T Dep out there... :(
Okay, this is going to sound strange, and even laughable. But as old wives tale-ish as it sounds, I swear, it seems to work.
Garlic. Garlic caplets. My brother and I used to start taking them before we would go up to Northern Wisconsin, where the skeeters are like small aircraft. Everytime we would remember to take them, the bites were less severe. Forget, and you were hamburger!
It may have just been timing, but like I said seemed to work.
The simplest solution? Hang out with people who are hotter, smellier, and more visible than you, and you'll be left alone.
Perhaps you could have Michael Moore stand in your back yard :-)
Ba Ha Biff (did you ever read farside? where the dog sticks his head out the window and says to his buddy "Ba Ha Biff, I'm going to the vet to get tutored".) Ba Ha Biff. I'm afraid the mosquitoes would run in terror of Micheal and I would get bitten worse. No thanks on that offer. Though you are welcome to come down and run around in my back yard. GRIN.
I'm not going anywhere NEAR your place! I don't want to get tutored ;-)
I miss the Far Side...
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